Toilet seat protector



' Dec. 13, 1949 M. KNOETZSCH TOILET SEAT PROTECTOR 2 Shets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 26, 1947 k 6 2w. 5 Wm? H 1M 5 JQK m F m M w Y M 9 J y M n u. d \V WJ J 3 Dec. 13, 1949 KN T S 2,491,187

TOILET SEAT PROTECTOR Filed Feb. 26, 194v z Sheets-Sheet '2 INVENTQR. Mara lf'zzoe sck MMQ J WQ QLM ATTORNEYS Patented Dec. 13, 1949 2,491,187 TDIIl T-SEAT PRD'TECTB'* Mafiiii Kniitz'sch; Guatemala City, Guatemala nppntstianrbiaa y ,26, we, Serial 3 Claims] (cm- 2m This invention relates to toilet seat protectors and more particularlyto-a device for auto; matically providing U-shaped toilet seats with sanitary coverings.

Devices of this character which coverthe en'-" tire toilet seat with a unitary web of paper auto matically replaced "by a fresh covering after'each use, are wasteful of'paper and henfceexpensivei in'operation. In additidnunless some means provided to dispose ofthe' soiledfpaper :jafterj each use, the device would be 'extre'melvuns'ani tary.

It is among the objects 'of this invention to provide a device for covering a 'u -shape'cltoilet' seat with strips of paper that-"affrdcdriirilte protection against soiling of the seat andconfs'e -j quent infection of-the user, that will ajitomati cally change the coveringafter each' use and' will dispose of the soiledpaper 'withoutthe ne: cessity for handling thereof,and"'that"is"eco= nomical in operation, simple to use 'and-notlike- 13 to get out of order.

According to the invention;-thedevice-com: prises three separate covering units-,pnefor'each side of a hinged orpivoted'U-shaped toi'let seatand one forthe cross piece or back thereof-comnesting the sides, each covering unit beingas sociated with paper cutting mechanism"andali three units, together'with their respective-"cutting mechanism being jointly controlldby the pivotal movement of the-seat: The covering units each carry a roll of paper which 'is' auto' matically unrolled by meansof-feejd rollers so as'to move a fresh surface'on'thetop'of theseat after each use when the seat is pivoted upwards,

While the used portion offthepaperjis automati -f cally cut ofi and dropped-into the bowliwhen the seat is pivoted downwardto the positionof use:

In the accompanying drawings in which shown one of various possible embodiments of the several features of the invention,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of :thedevice';

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken al'ong'line 2-:2 of Fig. 1,

Figs. 3 to 5 are detailed views of'thepaperjcut ting mechanism, and

Figs. 6 to 8 are detailedside'views of the device showing the papercutting mechanism in various stages of operation.

Refe n o e drawings; 1 sub t ntial y aped seat I n v d d'having a a rio 1 vers 2, each of which'is aflixed 'atbn'eend on the cross piece or'back I'l ofthe seat; jLevei'sf2f e acl i have a transverse bearing openings} thereinjby: means of which levers 2 and seat! canpepivbted" stable weight-a which autot l fabout'irod ,4 to iet'ainthe' ally vertical position when not irate for eac er t e feed rollers is vide "with 'a rubber facing whi1e the" rollers I SQitjiSf-nec'essafr that one of the feed roll 'slbe driven. In'tl'ieembodiment {shown n; roller 1 T is roftajte'd -by the mechanism rteYdescriBeTdJ- I ithrefrhm igis ja pair' 'Iof' spaced {parallel brackets"26"and 2T. Journalle d iri'each of said brackets and extending therefromton both sides thereoi 'fisla horizontal drive "shaft 22 having asbimgzi, surrcunamgshait zz' between gear 2, Q7 ,SErip f' aprucr roper"feed 2| and an adjusting wing nut 23, against the corresponding helical teeth 12 of a coupling member 25, rigidly afiixed on shaft 22. By this arrangement when seat I is pivoted upwardly around rod 4 by the weights 8, gear 2| rolls over the toothed internal gear segment I, rotating in a counter-clockwise direction, as seen in Figs. 6 to 8, and the helical teeth 'Il thereon mesh with the helical teeth 12 of coupling member 25 acting as a driving clutch to rotate shaft 22, whereas during the downward motion of seat gear 2| will rotate in a clockwise direction and the helical teeth 1| thereon will ratchet over the helical teeth '12 on the coupling member 25 and not transmit motion to shaft 22.

As shaft 22 also carries a driven feed roller I'I thereon which supplies paper to back II of the seat, it is apparent that each upward motion of seat I will rotate shaft 22 and effect the simultaneous rotation of the three driven feed rollers thereby unrolling the strips of paper from rollers 5 and replacing the used paper on the sides and back of the seat.

The paper strips l2, l3 and M which pass between the feed rollers I! and I8 are guided 91-.

thereby so as to be moved over and beyond a cutting bar |9 with which a pair of cutting knives 29 and 34 cooperate to shear the strip. Cutting knives 29 and 34 are each pivotally mounted at one end as at 35 and 36 and provided at their free ends with pins 31' and 38 respectively, which are pivoted in longitudinal slots 57, B in arms 59 for actuation of the cutting knives 29 and 34 under the sides 9 and ill of the seat and in longitudinal slots 51, 58 in arm 56 for actuation of the cutting knives under the back I of the seat.

Movement of actuating arms 59 and actuating arm 56 only occurs during the downward motion of seat I and will pivot cutting knives and 34 about their pivots and 35 respectively in the direction of the arrows, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, to effect cutting of the paper strips. The mechanism for moving actuating arm 59 and actuating arm 56 comprises a lever 39 which is firmly ailixed to seat I and is pivotally mounted on rod 4 in juxtaposition to standard 6 by means of bearing opening 40 in said lever. Lever 39 has a laterally extending arm 4| which engages from below the end 42 of a lever 43 rotatably mounted on a stud 44 extending laterally outward from upright standard 5. Arm 4| of lever 39 is in engagement with end 42 of lever 43 when seat I is in an approximately vertical position, as shown in Fig. 6, and lever 43 is thereupon driven when lever 39 is pivoted, due to the turning down of the seat. The driving of lever 43 is, however, restricted to only a portion of the travel of lever 39, for as levers 39 and 43 are pivoted about different axes, i. e., rod 4 and stud 44 respectively, end 4| of lever 39 will cease to engage and drive end 42 of lever 43 after lever 39 has pivoted a short distance.

Pivotally mounted on shaft 22 as at 22' is a U-shaped member 45' having a lever arm 45 extending from one of the arms thereof. Moving of lever 43 by lever 39 causes the laterally extending arm 41 of lever 43 to engage the end 48 of lever arm 45 of member 45 and pivot the latter downward about shaft 22. Lever 45 transmits the motion imparted to it by lever 43 to its rear portion 46 extending parallel to rod 4, to two additional levers 49 pivotally mounted on studs 50 extending laterally outward from brackets 26 and 21. The levers 49 each have a reduced portion 5| at the rear end thereof which fits into a slot 52 on rear portion 46 of U-shaped member 45'. as shown in Figs. 1, 4 and 5. Pivoting of member 45' as heretofore described, will also pivot levers 49 about their respective studs 50. Each of the front ends 53 of levers 49 has a yoke 54 into each of which projects a pin 55 extending longitudinally from each end of actuating arm 56, which will be reciprocated up and down by the pivoting of levers 49. Reciprocation of actuating arm 56 will pivot cutting knives 20 and 34 downwardly about their pivots 35 and 36 into engagement with the companion cutting bar I9 and thereby shear the paper strip 14. To insure perfect separation of the strip cutting knives 20 and 34 overlap at their free ends when pivoted to cutting position.

The apparatus for cutting the paper strips on the sides of the seat is similar to the one described for the back I thereof, with the diiierence, however, that the actuating arm 56 is replaced by an actuating arm 59, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, which in the embodiment herein consists of a separate arm affixed to member 45' on the left side of the seat as at 46', while member 45' is extended on the right side of the seat to form actuating arm 59.

After end 42 of lever 43 is no longer engaged and driven by end 4| of lever 39 as above described, as shown in Fig. 8, lever 43 will swing back to its initial position in response to the urging of a spring 60'.

Simultaneously when end 48 of lever arm 45 of U-shaped member 45' which is engaged by arm 41 of lever 43 is released, which occurs when lever 43 swings back to its original position under the urging of spring 60' as heretofore described, spring 6| will pivot U-shaped member 45 and hence actuating arms 59 and actuating arm 56 with their cutters 29 and 34 to their original position as shown in Fig. 8.

In order that the cutting mechanism operate only during the downward motion of the seat, the laterally extending arm 4| of lever 39 must be guided under the end 42 of lever 43 as the seat pivots upwardly under the urging of weights 8. For this purpose arm 4| is provided with a dovetailed projection 60 unitary therewith and extending longitudinally therefrom, which is slidably seated in a corresponding dovetailed groove at the end of lever 39. A spring 6| afilxed at one end to lever 39 and at its other end to dovetailed projection 59, draws laterally extending arm 4| in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 8. When seat I is pivoted upwardly, arm 4| which has been displaced from the end of lever 39 by spring 6| will be cammed away from the end 42 of lever 43, whereas during downward motion of seat I, arm 4| of lever 39 will beari against end 42 of lever 43, as shown in Fig. 6, and thereby move lever 43 into operative position.

It can thus be seen that fresh strips of paper will be placed on the sides 9 and I9 and back II of the seat when the weights 8 pivot the seat to vertical position and the used portions of the strips will be cut off during the downward motion of the seat, to drop into the bowl.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely differ ent embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope of the claims, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing, be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. i

Having thus described my invention, What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A device for providing U-shaped toilet seats with paper coverings, said device comprising means for pivoting said seat from horizontal to vertical position, said means comprising a pair of upright standards, a horizontal rod affixed in the upper ends of said standard and parallel to the rear of said seat, a pair of spaced levers pivoted on said rod and aflixed at one end to said seat and a Weight at the free end of each of said levers normally to pivot said seat to vertical position, a paper supply roll under each of the sides and back of said seat, a pair of feed rollers in juxtaposition to each of said supply rolls, cutting means interposed between each of said supply rolls and its respective pair of feed rollers, a transmission actuated by the pivoting of said seat about said rod to actuate said feed rollers and a transmission actuated by the pivoting of said seat about said rod to actuate said cutting means, said feed rollers being actuated by pivoting of said seat from horizontal to vertical position and said cutting means being actuated by the pivoting of said seat from vertical to horizontal position, the transmission to actuate said feed rollers comprising a drive shaft rotatably mounted beneath the back of said seat, a feed roller shaft under each of the sides of said seat, gear means on said drive shaft and said feed roller shafts operatively to connect said drive shaft to said feed roller shafts, a gear idly mounted on said drive shaft having helical teeth on one face thereof extending laterally therefrom, a coupling member rigidly afiixed to said drive shaft in juxtaposition to said gear and having helical teeth extending laterally therefrom, an internal gear segment rigidly affixed to said rod at one end thereof and meshing with said drive shaft gear teeth and a spring urging said gear into engagement with said coupling member, the helical teeth on said gear engaging the helical teeth on said coupling member and rotating said drive shaft When said seat is pivoted from horizontal to vertical position and ratcheting over said helical teeth on said coupling member when said seat is pivoted from vertical to horizontal position.

2. A device for applying paper coverings to a pivoted U-shaped toilet seat, said device comprising means for pivoting said seat from horizontal to vertical position, a paper supply roll under each of the sides and the back of said seat, a pair of paper feed rollers in juxtaposition to each of said supply rolls, cutting means interposed between each of said supply rolls and its respective pair of feed rollers, a transmission actuated by the pivoting of said seat from horizontal to vertical position for actuating said feed rollers to feed fresh paper from said supply rolls and a transmission actuated by the pivoting of said seat from vertical to horizontal position for actuating said cutting means to out off the used portions of said paper.

3. A device for providing U-shaped toilet seats with paper covering, said device comprising a pair of upright standards, a horizontal rod affixed in the upper ends of said standards and parallel to the rear of said seat, a pair of spaced levers pivoted on said rod and affixed at one end to said seat, a Weight on the free end of each of said levers normally to pivot said seat to vertical position, a paper supply roll under each of the sides and back of said seat, a pair of feed rollers in juxtaposition to each of said supply rolls, cutting means interposed between each of said supply rolls and its respective pair of feed rollers, said cutting means comprising a cutting bar affixed beneath each of the sides and back of said seat and extending longitudinally thereof and a pair of cutting knives each pivoted at one end to an end of said cutting bar, and a transmission actuated by the pivoting of said seat about said rod to actuate said feed rollers and a transmission actuated by the pivoting of said seat about said rod to actuate said cutting means, said transmission for actuating said cutting means being operatively connected to the free ends of said cutting knives to reciprocate the latter about said pivots.

MARTIN KNOETZSCH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,081,904 Gilbertson Dec. 16, 1913 1,265,272 Spanos May 7, 1918 1,589,429 Rouse June 22, 1926 1,843,778 McColl Feb. 2, 1932 

